This invention broadly relates to a closed chamber baler for baling compressible materials and more specifically is related to a closed chamber baler for baling compressible materials such as waste paper wherein multiple strapping loops are sequentially applied at vertically spaced intervals about the bale while the bale is under relatively high compression and wherein the bales once formed are ejected from the baler.
Increased quantities of waste materials, such as paper and other shredded materials, can most easily be disposed of by bunching or baling the material so that a relatively large volume of the material is compressed into a relatively small volume for transportation and handling purposes. Typically these waste materials are shredded into fragments which are small in comparison with the overall dimensions of the bale. The bales produced are on the order of several feet square in a transverse direction and between five and six feet long in a longitudinal direction with the bales generally having a rectangular shape. In the past baling machines have been provided which include a hopper, a baling chamber and a ram which is actuated to compress material in the chamber. Accessory equipment, such as strapping, banding and tying devices, have been utilized to form the bale, examples of such strapping devices being disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,768,574, 2,827,926, 2,763,297 and 2,853,885.
These prior art baling devices have had a number of drawbacks including the fact that they are of exceedingly complex structure and are not capable of rapidly applying a sequence of bands about the compacted waste material to form a bale. An example of a prior art baling device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,364 which discloses an apparatus wherein waste material is compressed in a chamber and straps are positioned about the external periphery thereof in sequential order. This patent, however, does not disclose a method or apparatus for sequentially guiding wire about the outside periphery of a bale, binding the wire and then ejecting the bale from the baler. Other baling apparatus have been designed such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,720,158 and 3,521,550 wherein bales of cotton are formed by utilizing a sequential bale strapping apparatus. The sequential bale strapping apparatus disclosed in these patents, however, are quite complex and therefore are subject to mechanical failure. In addition, these patents do not disclose a baling apparatus which automatically receives the material to be compressed, forms bales from the compressed material and then automatically ejects the formed bales in a continuous and efficient operation.
It therefore is an object of this invention to provide a closed chamber baler for efficiently and economically forming compressible material into bales.